Battle of Eriadu

Through the viewport of the bridge, I stared at planet Eriadu, one of the most important planets of the Outer Rim. It was the world where former Grand Moff, Wilhuff Tarkin, had been born, and from where he had controlled the Outer Rim until his death. Eriadu would be my headquarters, where I would coordinate with Ardus Kain, the current Grand Moff. On the way here however, there had been some trouble establishing communications with both the Imperial garrison and the Grand Moff. Neither of them had responded to any of my attempts to contact them, which left me feeling a sense of foreboding the whole way here.

I sighed, glancing over at the two Imperial Star Destroyers still protecting the planet. It would be bad news if they didn't answer me. I had been left by the Council of Moffs to protect the Galactic South, but they didn't even give me enough resources to do it! How can I protect the South as an admiral without a fleet!? Not to mention, everyone I attempted to contact kept ignoring me and my requests!

I turned to the communications officer, "Establish contact with the two Star Destroyers ahead of us." Soon after, a hologram appeared before me, a captain, based on the rank displayed by his uniform. I didn't know which ship he was in command of, but I couldn't have cared less. "Captain, this is Admiral Tanya Degurechaff. I have been ordered by the Council of Moffs to defend the Galactic South, which falls under the jurisdiction of Grand Moff Ardus Kaine. I order you to patch me through to the Grand Moff." The call then cut out suddenly, the captain's hologram disappearing. How odd. I positioned myself closer to the communications officer, who was working to understand what had happened. "Is it another error with communications?"

"No, Admiral. They have cut the signal," responded the officer, a look of surprise on his face.

"The two ISDs are on an intercept course and deploying TIE fighters in attack formation!" Shouted another bridge staffer. What was going on?

"Send a message to the Star Destroyers. They are to cease their course of action immediately and return their fighters to their hangars, or they will be considered traitors and dealt with accordingly!" Why had the Imperial garrison rebelled? For what reason? Wait… was this a political move to kill me? That didn't make sense! Why would they assign me orders and promote me to Admiral if they planned on killing me? The rage I felt in that moment made me clench my fists and grit my teeth. Not only had I been condemned to die, but now I would face my own comrades. Glaring hatefully at the incoming vessels, I began delivering my orders.

"Deploy fighters, prepare boarding parties and maximize shields! Put the turbo lasers at full power! Your orders are to neutralize the two traitor ISDs' combat capabilities and board them. Surrenders will be accepted and any officer above the rank of Lieutenant Commander will be arrested immediately!" The Perseverance accelerated to full speed as it rushed into battle. Two Imperial-class Star Destroyers would pose no threat to a Bellator-class dreadnought, but no enemy ship could be ignored, no matter how small. The Battle of Yavin taught the Empire that lesson. It was then that Draneir, the Perseverance's new captain, appeared on the bridge.

"Draneir, what made you so late that you couldn't be here when our allies started attacking us?" I spat out, sneering at him. He glanced at the viewport, where two Star Destroyers approaching with unknown but clearly hostile intentions could be seen.

"I'm sorry, I was personally dealing with an emergency. There was a problem with the reactors, but it's been taken care of." I sighed, gathering myself, before looking back at the oncoming capital ships. Everyday, things were getting worse and worse. There was never a moment where anything got better.

"An Imperial Ace has been deployed!" Cried out a bridge operator, with Draneir moving beside them in response.

"Who is it?" He asked.

"Shea Hublin, a renowned hero of the Empire!" I grimaced. Hublin was relatively well known, being one of the best pilots in the Empire. The fact that he was with the traitors made me wonder what was going on, but that didn't matter at the moment. They had given me no opportunity to either surrender or negotiate. If they sought my destruction, they would be destroyed. I clenched my fist once more, ignoring the pain I felt in my palms. What utter madness this was.

"Turbo lasers are in range. We can start firing." One of the officers reported, the one coordinating the offensive efforts of the ship. Mulling over what he said, it almost seemed to me like he was asking for permission. This entire situation was surreal to me. I could only imagine what my crew thought. Before the Battle of Endor, none of us ever expected to face our own comrades, but here we were...

"The traitors are worse than rebels. The rebels fight for a utopian and almost fanciful ideal. The traitors were instead once loyal to our just cause, and now that our cause is in its moment of weakness, they decide to show their true selves. They take off their masks, revealing faces of betrayal, greed and self-interest! They do not care about the ideals of peace, prosperity, order or civilization, they are only interested in their own selfish desires! Therefore, in light of this betrayal to all we stand for, I give the order to fire at will!"

The Empire was a flawed system, but amongst the corruption lay a promise that reform could be carried out over time. Once the Emperor passed, I believed a reform process could have begun where we would abandon the economically and militarily inefficient xenophobia. We could have also loosened up on control and fear tactics once we defeated the rebels. It was a system that while initially corrupt, had a good foundation to build upon and, in time, could have been reformed into one of the greatest states the Galaxy had ever known. But that didn't happen. Now, even Imperials were abandoning the Empire and as a result, the rebels would gain an even greater advantage.

"Long live the Empire!" I shouted patriotically, reassuring my comrades and myself that the Empire would endure. An Empire in decline, but one that would learn from its mistakes and reform. An Empire for the people!

Turbo lasers began to fire as opposing TIE fighters engaged in combat and the enemy Star Destroyers moved to surround the ship from either side. I watched from the bridge, Draneir at my side as our fighters barely held on through the onslaught. Their sacrifice was not in vain however, as it permitted us to focus the entirety of the Perseverance's firepower on the Imperial-class which had moved to our starboard. Beneath the oppressive force, the ISD's shields broke, exposing its weaponry to our attacks.

"Send in the boarding force!" Draneir ordered once the Star Destroyer had been neutered, its weaponry mostly disabled, to which boarding craft containing stormtroopers soon began to emerge from the hangars of the Perseverance. I turned to Draneir with a questioning look.

"How did you know I had boarding parties ready?"

"Because if you didn't, that Star Destroyer would be destroyed by now, and its entire crew dead." I smiled genuinely. Draneir, who was always by my side, was reliable no matter what.

"I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Saving you on Endor all those years ago was one of the best decisions I've ever made."

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Both enemy ISDs were disabled and captured, and the remaining TIE squadrons were eliminated. The Bellator-class's advantage over the Imperial-class had ensured this final outcome. However, most of the Perseverance's TIE fighters had been destroyed, with the mutual loss of their pilots. It was a victory, but a costly one, and as a result I had nearly run out of starfighters and pilots.

Before me were the ten senior officers of the traitor forces, on their knees and with stormtroopers pointing weapons at their heads. Nine men and one woman, four old and six young. But in the end, it didn't matter who they were, all of them were nothing but traitors.

"Why did you attack me?" I questioned, the first to answer being the woman.

"Sander Devalrus of the Tarkin family established the Eriadu Authority upon learning of the death of the Emperor, and left the Imperial garrison no other choice but to join him." I nodded. They were traitors, who had rebelled against Imperial rule in favor of a petty tyrant, but the situation was understandable. In a normal case, everyone would be executed. Most Imperial higher-ups followed that procedure. However, I couldn't just go and kill everyone. I needed starships, and the crew to man them. So, with that in mind, I pulled out ten sticks I had prepared in advance.

"Everyone draw a stick." They all looked at each other in confusion, even the troopers and Draneir. However, the traitors did not take long to get over their confusion, drawing a stick each as I passed by, before repositioning myself in front.

"Now show your sticks. Who has the smallest one?" They all raised their hands, showing their sticks. A quick scan over them showed that it was a middle-aged man, a captain, who had drawn the shortest stick. I smiled.

"The rest of you are lucky I need crews, but in order to truly prove yourself before you can come into my service, you're going to have to show your commitment to the Empire." I calmly said, before raising my finger and pointing at the captain.

"Those who did not draw the shortest stick must kill the one who did. It doesn't matter how. And if you don't… well, we all know what normally happens to those who betray the Empire." The officer who had been singled out glanced between his colleagues in panic, and begged them for mercy. While some looked hesitant at first, the guns aimed at their heads gave them the encouragement they needed to carry out the act. The first to strike was the woman, followed by blows from the rest as they joined in. They began beating him to death, for all on the bridge to see. Turning back to the stormtroopers who bore witness, I gave them my orders. "This punishment is to be referred to as 'decimation'. Apply it to all traitorous scum that did not surrender to us immediately upon encountering our forces."

"It will be done, Admiral." One trooper responded as they all saluted me, before moving on to apply my new method to the other traitors who had been captured. Thank you Rome for this brilliant method of punishment! It will serve me well in reintegrating traitors into my ranks, ensuring their loyalty with a lesson they will never forget! Draneir came up behind me in my moment of silent glee.

"Don't you think this is perhaps more violent than simply executing them?" He asked.

"That is the idea. That they remember that next time, the same thing will happen to them. That I don't care if they are guilty or innocent, the punishment will be applied collectively. Only a small few will turn traitor, for those who betray will be destroyed by their own comrades in order to avoid punishment. The traitors will be crushed with no mercy and the loyal ones will be rewarded for their service." I laughed a little. "Besides, if you knew what awaits the mastermind of this travesty, you would feel that what I am doing here is a mercy by comparison." Next, I turned to a bridge officer. "Prepare our landing craft and make contact with the highest-ranking stormtrooper on the planet."

A stormtrooper general stood in front of me. He was the commanding officer in charge of the stormtrooper garrison protecting Eriadu.

"General," I asked, "have you seen the recording?"

"Yes, but I don't understand why he would do this. We are all fighting for the Empire, aren't we?" He replied, doubt in his voice.

"That's because the tyrant you serve is lying to you. He is a traitor, carving out his own territory independent of the Empire whilst leading you along, hiding his true loyalties. Why else would his ships attack me when I approached the planet? This act of betrayal is on full display in the recordings I gave you." The General looked down, watching the video again.

"I'm sorry, this is a bit hard to believe… it's all happening so fast. First the death of the Emperor, and now this?" Bitterness filled his voice. "However, before I can be certain, how do I know that you are not a traitor?" I sighed. It was a normal doubt, given the situation.

"My name is Tanya Degurechaff." He stilled for a moment, then saluted.

"At your service," He stoically declared, "I will depose the traitor and lower the planetary defenses." I smiled. The Stormtrooper Corps was fanatical, the best in the Empire, and loyal to the core. Few in their ranks would desert the Empire. That's why I knew they would quickly oppose the local leader if I could contact the General and explain the situation.

"You have saved your people from decimation, know that." I said, knowing he had seen it in the footage I had shown him earlier.

"I appreciate your mercy." Replied the General.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I walked through the streets of Eriadu City. The local stormtroopers had some streets cut off in consideration for my arrival. However, that was not what interested me, rather, it was who they had captured.

"The Tarkin family, betraying the Empire. Shame on you all." I spat out, glaring at the entirety of the family, the very planners and perpetrators of this treachery. Children, adults, and the elderly. Every member was present.

Continuing to glare, I ran over the options in my head once again. I could show mercy, but sparing traitors was never a good idea. If they were willing to betray once, they would be willing to betray many more times, and using decimation on them would end up leaving the survivors with a strong grudge. The Tarkin name was too influential, and I couldn't afford them becoming the poster child or tool of any would-be anti-Imperial saboteurs. They had to die.

"General," I spoke. The stormtrooper in front of me was the one I had met earlier, and was now fully convinced that his former superior was in fact nothing more than a selfish despot, and not a man loyal to the Empire as he had once believed.

"Yes, Admiral?" asked the General, awaiting orders.

"Make crosses, ten feet high, and at six feet make the cross. I want every member of the Tarkin family thirteen and above to have their ankles nailed as far down the ten foot length such that it would allow their wrists to be nailed to the sides of the cross. Afterwards, stake the crosses to flat ground and leave them to bleed out for their treachery. Use the same punishment on all elites who actively supported this treason."

The General saluted, moving to fulfill the order. As he began to walk however, he stopped for a moment to question me. "What about those under thirteen?"

"Put them in the Stormtrooper Academy. It will be their duty to cleanse their family of its sins." The General nodded again, setting the stormtroopers around him to work, and all the while, the Tarkin family begged for mercy. These elites did not deserve such a thing as mercy. Traitorous elites would be executed; traitorous plebs would be decimated. Extraordinary measures for extraordinary situations.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The General stared at the Tarkin family, nailed to their crosses, wailing in pain and waiting for death. He felt cheated and disgusted by their stupidity. Next to him was a subordinate commander, who looked at him doubtfully.

"How do you know she is loyal to the Empire, and not a tyrant like Sander Delvardus?" The Commander asked, who after discovering Delvardus's deception himself had also responded with disgust, but was doubtful that the Admiral had better intentions.

"Because she is Tanya Degurechaff." Wearing a helmet, the Commander's surprise could only be seen with the way he whipped his head towards the General.

"Lord Vader's favorite captain?" He asked in amazement.

"The very same."